RETURN TO GALILEE/JESUS BEGINS TO PREACH AND PROCLAIM THE MESSAGE AT NAZARETH
Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, withdrew to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone glorified him. He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written: The spirit of Lord Yahweh is on me for Yahweh has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the news to the afflicted, to sooth the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, release to those in prison, to proclaim a year of favor from Yahweh. 61:1-2 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, “This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening.” In addition, he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips. They said, “Surely this is Joseph’s son?” However, he replied, “No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself,” and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own country.” In addition, he went on, “In truth I tell you, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country. There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a town in Sidonia. Kings 17:9 And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many suffering from virulent skin-diseases in Israel, but none of these were cured - only Naaman the Syrian.” Kings 5:14 When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him off the cliff, but he passed straight through the crowd and walked away. Leaving Nazara, he went and settled in Capernaum, beside the lake, on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah spoke: For is not everything dark as night for a country in distress? As the past humbled the land of Zebulun and the lands of Naphtali, so the future will glorify the Way to the Sea, beyond the Jordan, the territory of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on the inhabitants of a country in shadow dark as death light has blazed forth. 8:23-9:1 From then onwards Jesus began his proclamation, the gospel of God, with the message, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.” Return